Calumet Park Sued In Jail Cell Death

Cook County — The death of a south suburban man in the Calumet Park police lockup last year resulted in a lawsuit Thursday against the suburb.

The suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the mother of Michael Kippers, a 29-year-old Phoenix man who was found hanged while in police custody last May 14.

The suit claims the Police Department failed to take precautions to prevent Kippers from killing himself and that the department had a history of inadequate supervision of prisoners held in the lockup.

A 20-year-old man was found hanged in the lockup a month after Kippers' death.

Both men were black and the incidents prompted calls for reform in the all-white Police Department.